My wife simply did not know that I paid all our monthly bills early instead of the middle of the month as I usually do.

So---she started buying Christmas gifts on line using our debit card.

This was a simple mis-communication between my wife and I--- IE: Shit happens and we sometimes make mistakes. Well...before I knew what she did and she knew what I did... debits started to hit and the overdraft charges started racking up.

If you were to look at my on-line account you'd see 34.00 15 times in a row. $510.00 total.

I quickly took some money out of another account I have, deposited it, and then sat down with a Chase official to explain the mistake.

The Bank guy said he had to discuss this with his Manager to see what he could do----kind of like a car salesman having to talk to his Manager for a better deal on the car.

The guy comes back and said that his Manager out of her good graces will credit me $70.00---that's right...70. My mouth fell open and I was speechless....and then he said that she was only going to do 34.00...but again, out of the goodness of her heart, she did 70.

Now anyone that knows we will attest that I don't take these things lightly....but I was so stunned at their lack of compassion with this issue that I left the Bank speechless.

So---I'm going to reevaluate my relationship with that bank and how I use banks in general.

This is another reason I don't use a debit card, nor have one although my spouse would certainly love one. We use charge cards for everything (mostly Discover) and pay them off each month, but nothing goes directly out of the checking account until we pay bills online or write a check and everything is then right in front of us. Keeps the communication hiccup thing under control.

11. I use a credit union, but they are still banks, and some are worse.

You can find good CUs, but don't assume that because it's local and it's not a bank that it is good. I've had some horrible experiences with credit unions, and seen even worse. Not just late fees and such, but deposit fees--one CU I used charged 2 bucks for every deposit--bad loan policies, and sometimes just corrupt management. I had a CU once lie to me about loan funds (someone else's loan) they were supposed to send to pay off my GMAC loan. They claimed they had mailed the funds, the buyer had already taken the car from me, and the CU held the funds for a month, getting me a late from the lender that I had to pay. The lender even sent me a photocopy of the postmark and check date the CU had sent, proving the CU had lied to me for a month about it.

Check. Shop. There are good banks and bad CUs, and there are good corporations and corrupt local businesses.

9. This is what I did to avoid that. I am not saying you were not screwed royally.

I made a spreadsheet. Each row is a bill or some type of spending like car payment or insurance or food or ATM or other things.

Each column is a payday.

I start off with my known balance and add my paycheck then subtract any spending. If is was on a debit card I go on line every day and add to the spread sheet what was paid. My credit union posts what I spend almost instantly. I also have gross amounts that count for spending until I get the real data. For instance I have gasoline as $100 until I get the real amounts which I post when I have them. It is sort of a cash flow budget kind of thing. If anyone wants to do the same PM me and I'll try to make it available to you.

I hate what the banks do also but I had to find a way to protect myself. My wife and I look at my spreadsheet each day. We can tell what we spent money on for the last two years.

I guess I'm not quite as precise in my figures, but the point is to be sure that essential bills are planned and paid, and THEN remaining money can be allocated as needed. I also use estimated (worst-case) figures for some items, and check my balance at least once a day, if not more, to check off things as they clear the acct. I use a debit card for just about everything. I have not had an overdraft in ages with this system--but even so, I have "overdraft protection" available, an automatic transfer from savings.

10. Chase isn't a bank, it's a crime syndicate. I left them for similar reasons.

I was a Washington Mutual customer and never had any problems with them. When Chase completed the buyout, they put a hold on my first deposit, which caused a check to bounce, which caused other checks to bounce. I called to ask why they put a hold on my payroll check when WAMU never had, and they said it was their policy to put a one day hold on all teller deposits--even cash. I asked if they could refund the fees, since I hadn't known this, and they said no. I told them they were going to lose a lot of customers, and the CS person read a script saying "We are aware that many of our new Washington Mutual customers will be unhappy with this policy." It was so scripted I knew there was no point in arguing further.

I closed them and went back to another account, and even so they found a way to charge me fees they claim I owe.

Evil bank. My spouse is a VP for another bank, and she says that Chase is known for such actions. They promise low fees and high yields, but they make up their money on late and overdraft fees and exhorbitant penalty interest rates on credit cards and even mortgages. They are the worst of the predator banks.

16. Do this. Go back to the bank and tell them you want to give them one more chance to be

human about this before you take your money and open at the credit union. If they refuse, close the account and go elsewhere. Only reason I think this might help is the recent story where the banks are screaming to have limits put on what credit unions can loan cause the credit unions are starting to cut, seriously, into their business.

32. They did that to me as well. Plus when an unauthorized debit was made to my account

Edited on Mon Dec-07-09 02:49 PM by glitch

I called and told them to stop payment, they said they had to pay it first and then I could dispute it. At the time it was still pending.Then they charged the overdraft fee, of course. I used to love Wamu but Chase blows badly, IMO. I won't use the account again until they sort it out.

Back in the late 80s, I had my personal and business checking accounts are a local Savings & Loan. For several years, I had not had a problem with them placing any holds at all on any deposits - they credited my deposits immediately. Then the federal rules changed, allowing a maximum time that they were allowed to put holds before crediting a deposit. Suddenly every deposit had the maximum hold placed on it, no exceptions.

Since I did not know this was going to happen, I had proceeded as usual and paid bills based on the deposits I thought had been credited. Lots of overdraft charges. I went in, talked to the manager who explained their new rules, but who did waive the fees for that one time. But she told me that the policy was going to stand. I told her that I was going home to reconcile my checkbooks and would return to close the accounts once I knew how much I should have that was not encumbered by outstanding checks - and that I was not going to let the S&L use my money for weeks when I did not have access to it.

When I returned to close the accounts, I told the teller she should look for a new job, that the S&L would be closing soon. Sure enough, the doors were locked in less than a month.

Banks and other banking institutions should not rely on the float (customers' money that they have collected but do not allow their customers to have access to) or on fees derived from arbitrary policies to stay in business or to make a profit.

Walk in to the bank, find the jerk who refused to issue you a credit and say:

"As per the new Federal Reserve rules, get that bullsh!t off my account now!"

You will never be charged like this again.The card will be declined and they won't get a dime in fees.I have the date marked.

You could also file a small claims suit.It's usually only about $20 to file and it might be worth it just to cause them headaches.In the fine print of their "agreements" they will have protected themselves, but they might refund the dough to avoid sending a lawyer to the court.Or if they don't show up, you might get a default judgment for the $440.Anything to make their life a little more miserable might be worth doing.

20. When Chase took over WaMu, I moved to a credit union, and, within a couple of months...

...the same thing happened to me as to you. In my case, I accidentally transferred money out of my main account to one of my business accounts to pay some expenses coming up, but wasn't paying attention, and transferred it to my motion-picture company account instead of my photography company. I then proceeded to pay those bills on the photography account that didn't have sufficient funds in it, and didn't figure out the problem until four checks had been cashed. Had I still been at Chase, I would have been out $136 - $176 (depending on whether they used the Chase or WaMu formula for overdraft fees). With BECU, I simply got notified that I was under my balance, and please transfer funds in to cover the deficit. My overdraft charges? $0.00.

I did a transfer too fast from my savings account to checking account, at least thats what I thought I did...instead I took money out of checking to go to savings of which there wasn't enough money.

I caught mistake before it even went through. Ing said its too late on our side so call your bank. I called my bank and they said I had to do stop payment and come in person to sign the forms. And that cost $20.

So I was only out $20 but I spent a whole week at the bank and on the phone because while I filled out the stop payment, they put it through anyway causing me to go under in my account, fees got put on, bills not paid, Ing called me to ask why the transfer kept being stapped back, etc.

One girl at Ing said they were monitoring my account now and if this happened again they might close my account.

My bank it took a week to fix it all but other than the original $20 took off all other fees and fixed it.

So by the end of the week I was disgusted at myself for the mistake and pissed off at both my banks!!

25. I had a similar situation with BOA last year but they wouldn't credit me anything even after talking

with the manager!

I had about $280 in overdraft fees. Mind you the total amount of charges actually overdrafted totaled less than $35 which was the amount per overdraft fee. It was my mistake but it was a mistake. I had been with BOA for years and never had an overdraft fee ever. But last year I had a problem with a retailer. They ended up debiting an amount out of my account months after I had purchased the item. I guess I didn't account for it and assumed it had been taken out months earlier. Anyway, I continued purchasing small items. I use my debit card for everything. So $2 here for a soda, $5 for fast food etc. Each of these small overcharges included a 35 dollar fee! I did not know it was overdrafted until I got a notice in the mail a couple of days later. I tried to explain and get these charges at least some of them reversed and BOA would not budge on any charge despite seeing the amounts and my history. I thought that if I didn't have money in my account that the charge would be denied. I mean that is how my other bank card worked. After this I asked them if I could change my account so that it would deny charges that I didn't have enough funds for, and they said they could not do that! Since then I've learned to check my account regularly. I still have stayed with BOA because it is the most convenient for me. But I've learned my lesson.

Yeah, Bank of America. I had to return to Walgreens because they forgot to credit me the $35.00 for using a couponfor a medication. They credited my debit card and I made two small purchases. The next day I had 2- $35.00 overdraftcharges. I called them and they took it off because of merchant error.

being broke and having (i thought) a few hundred in my account, i thought i'd take out 20 at a time as so not to be tempted to blow it all quickly.

that was 6 overdraft fees right there.

that's right around the time it changed. remember back in the day, you try to buy something or withdraw cash and you didn't have the dough... IT DENIED THE TRANSACTION. that was my first experience with overdraft fees.

so if your bank offers it for free, get overdraft protection. it'll save you a lot of headaches.

I transferred $$ from my BoA credit line to checking account. Online banking said transfer had been made -- but it in fact had NOT been made until 3 or 4 days later. Well of course all that time I think I have made the transfer and used my debit card. You know the story -- charge after charge of $35 for each debit charge. Do you know the original amount I overdrew my account by? 54 CENTS!! And I didn't even know it was overdrawn because BoA's Online System showed the transfer had been made. So for 54 cents I got socked with over $200 in o/d fees and of course they couldn't possibly waive anything even though I pointed out it was their online banking error that caused me to overdraft.

That was it -- I had had problems with BoA long before this incident but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. This happened about 18 months ago, and I pulled everything out of BoA and went to a small local bank. Been very pleased with their service -- you call and human answers, they clear deposits VERY quickly (even out of state checks in 24 hours), etc. I'll NEVER go back to a big McBank again. Fuck BoA and all that ilk.

My daughter's ex decided not to put her child support into the CU on time. She had an insurance payment due.

My daughter called the CU and explained to them that since they had closed all their branch offices in North Florida, the account would be short until the following day when her husbands check was direct deposited. She also explained she had the cash to deposit, but no place to deposit it.

The clerk assured her that all would be well. She didn't mention that 30 miles away was another bank where my daughter could have made a deposit (my daughter did ask.) The lady said, "Call tomorrow and we will get it all straightened out. We can't do anything until after it happens."

So my daughter, deceived by the CU's bullshit, foolishly decided to pay the insurance bill.

My daughters husband who is a short haul truck driver used his debit card two times that day. Once for $6.00 at Subway and once for about $15.00.

So the CU cashes the insurance payment first, causing all the other payments to be overdrafts. Total overdraft charges were $90.

When my daughter contacted them they refused to help in the least. They then told her about the bank 30 miles away where she could have made a deposit. She even asked to talk to a manager. He refused to change the order of the overdrafts to reduce the fees. Basically, he said, "Tough shit!"

Just the other day she asked me if I was receiving 25 cent charges every time I used my debit card. Seems they now plan to nickle and dime you to death if you don't use the debit card as a charge card.

I talked to a representative and complained. I apologized after my tirade about the overdraft fees they had changed my daughter and the debit charge charges and asked the poor lady to make sure that her bosses heard of my complaints. She did explain that the CU had informed its membership of the new debit card fee months ago. If they did it was well buried in fine print.

I have done all my banking business with this credit union for well over 40 years. That will end at the first of the year.

Bank of America has a local branch office staffed with very nice people and a far better approach to customer relations than the GTE Federal CU. For one thing they don't take the largest withdrawal first in order to change more overdraft fees.

If by misfortune you belong to the GTE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, I suggest you reconsider your membership before they get a chance to screw you.

we did almost the same thing, but Wells Fargo EMAILS us when it happens (when the debit hits and we go into overdraft) and they don't PROCESS it till the night time. So we had a chance to shovel in some money to cover it before it actually 'went into overdraft'... no overdraft fees. That's really decent I think.

when I was changing banks for my payroll to be deposited into. They made the switch earlier than expected, so all the electronic payments bounced. Even worse, the bill pay service waited two days and tried again, incurring another round of overdrafts.

I was able to get half the charges dropped after complaining, but after that they stood firm.

be a "deadbeat" who uses the card only to pay the $50 monthly satellite bill, only to keep the ole credit score halfway decent. Otherwise I wouldn't bother using it even for that. But I have only $300 more to pay off to bring my HSBC credit card balance to $0!

My heart goes out to people with large credit card debt. Been there done that and it is hell.

I wrote a $5000 check for the downpayment on a house. (Now you know how long ago it was) I forgot to transfer the money from savings to checking. The bank did not bounce the check and charge me a huge fee; someone from the bank called me to tell me about the problem.

These fees are extortion. My friend's boyfriend, they have a joint account, wrote out a check he didn't tell her about it and that bounced several checks she wrote. She went to explain it to them, but they said 'there's nothing we can do'. She has closed her accounts with them.

bank will attach account to a savings or credit card so if you go over they will either put the money on the credit card or take from savings. It's worth protecting yourself from overdrafts if you can.

Online shopping should be done with a credit card, never with debit (and nevermind that VISA logo). Not only do you avoid the overdraft problem, but you actually have some protection in the event of fraudulent charges.

credit cards protect you debit cards don't. Never let a debit card out of your hand and never use it online. With a credit card if it is stolen you don't have to pay if debit the money is gone and you are out. Besides if you us a credit card and pay off every month then you get to use their money until the balance comes due.

If he/she still refuses to refund more (which is the most likely scenario), then pull your money out(after the 70.00 refund, of course) and put it in a credit union. Get a line of overdraft protection. They cost virtually NOTHING. My husband and I have this and it has been useful during such times of mis-communication. Then write a letter to your bank explaining why they lost your business -- and use names in the letter. CC that to everyone you can possibly think of all the way up the food chain of your bank.

This can be particularly useful if you can provide them with statements that show that you and your wife don't regularly have such mis-communication. Bring those, BTW, to your initial meeting.

I'm sorry this happened to you. What a bummer. And at Christmas time, too. Shit.

Now I go to the ATM and use cash. Banks are making a fortune off charging enormous fees to those least able to afford it. It keep me from making spur of the moment purchases too, which is a bonus. I can't even wrap my brain around how much I've lost to fees over the lest few years.

Early this year I made a payment on my overdraft line of credit - which had a balance of about $190. I paid $50 & accidentally checked the "principal only" box. A few days later my overdraft line of credit went into arrears, not because I hadn't made a payment, but because I hadn't made an interest payment - on $140 balance!

I was charged a $39 late fee on my line of credit account & consequently, five payments I made using my checking account were insufficiently funded for a total of $195 in overdraft fees. A total of $234 in fees altogether because I accidentally checked the wrong box. Now, I admit the mistake was mine, but to ding me for over $200 because I didn't pay interest on a balance of $140 is simply over the top & part of why Americans are so rabidly pissed at the banking industry.

Oh, & my email notices on the above transactions hit my in box three-four days later. How is it that when my line of credit account is accessed, an automatic $10 fee is also taken out of my checking account at the very same time, but it takes three fucking days to send me an email notice that my line of credit account is in arrears?

I called the bank & talked to them, but they didn't give a rat's ass. They weren't even nice about it. They treated me like I was some kind of deadbeat.

I'm now with a local credit union & much happier.

As more & more people experience what you & I did, the anger will grow. I don't think the PTB are aware of how close the middle class is to going ballistic. We're like a hot, dry forrest & all it's going to take is one little spark.

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